The reality that is well known is that Israel wants peace while
Hamas
' aim and mission is to destroy Israel. Israel desires a two-state solution with the Palestinians living along side Israel in their own economically viable peaceable state of Palestine.

If Hamas were to declare peace, lay down their arms, commit to not destroying Israel, accept Israel as their neighbor and be willing to negotiate peace, then there would be peace.

While if the Israeli people lay down their arms, then there wouldn't be a state of Israel.

Israel's war in Gaza is not with the Palestinian people but with the terrorist organization Hamas.

In the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which is populated by Palestinians, Israel has been negotiating peace with the Palestinian Authority. You don't hear of Israeli war planes shooting missiles or dropping bombs in the West Bank these days because the Palestinians in the West Bank aren't firing a daily barrage of Kissiams, Katushas or Grad rockets and missiles into Israel.

Israel's target is the terrorists and their infrastructure and not the civilian population that Hamas hides behind. Since Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza in 2005, Hamas has fired more that 6,300 rockets and mortars at the civilian population in southern Israel.

Hamas has been using women, children and the elderly as human shields to fire into Israel. According to the

Geneva Conventions
, if a missile launcher or weapons stockpile is placed among a civilian population, the responsibility for civilian causalities lies with the party that deliberately put the civilians at risk.

Israel respects the dignity of all human life and wishes peace with its neighbors.